Whispers: A Story

Her eyes glistened with the tears of… Sadness? Emptiness? He was unaware of the actual reason but to see such a beautiful woman in tears, he couldn’t bear that.

He approached her like he always did, looked at her with a crooked smile like he always did, whispered her name like he always did.

‘Jenna.’

She looked up and her eyes glistened once more, only this time they weren’t because of the sadness or the emptiness. She was happy. She wept again but her smile was a palpable miracle.

‘Wow,’ he said, ‘You’re beautiful.’

She giggled through the tears.

‘You are beautiful, too, Patrick.’

‘Well, I’m not commenting on that.’

She smiled harder. She was just so happy to see him.

The nurse knocked at the door of her room.

‘Yes?’ Jenna asked.

‘Your lunch,’ she said.

The nurse served the food and left the beautiful woman on her own. As far as she knew, she had performed her duty and there was nothing more she could do. ‘The meds do wonders. Let the time come,’ she would always say. But Jenna had been on the meds for years now and the only time she felt at peace was with Patrick. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t real, it didn’t matter that there had been an accident. All she cared about was that five-minute break from reality because in those five minutes, she could talk to the man she loved. She could be alive with him.